


She Tastes Like You, Only Sweeter

by Memories_of_the_Shadows



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Assassination Attempt(s), Complete, Cultural Differences, Dwarf Culture & Customs, F/F, Humor, Politics, Revenge, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:08:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27608785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Memories_of_the_Shadows/pseuds/Memories_of_the_Shadows
Summary: Marjolaine waited six years for this moment--  Waitsixyears!?
Relationships: Alistair & Morrigan (Dragon Age), Female Aeducan/Leliana (Dragon Age)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	She Tastes Like You, Only Sweeter

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs" by Fall Out Boys, only I changed the pronouns.
> 
> I do not consent to my work being hosted on any unofficial apps, especially any with ad revenue and subscription services, or any website other than ao3 unless I personally cross-posted a work.

“Leliana… didn’t you tell me that you were at Lothering’s Chantry for five years?” It had been a bit of pillow talk, something gossipy and light while cuddling that reminded them both of their pasts but no longer held anything to fear should they say the wrong thing. Nadezdha trusts Leliana, and she knows that Leliana trusts her too.

“Yes, but I don’t see why that matters right now, Nadi,” Leliana says back, hissing the words out of the corner of her mouth, eyes never leaving Marjolaine.

Nadezdha can feel her nose wrinkle and momentarily rejoices that she can _do that_ now and not have a half dozen nobles and Trian telling her about her wrinkles. She misses Trian sometimes, but she’ll never miss _that_. Bhelen never commented on her appearance, which is why he _used_ to be her favorite. “I don’t know, even Bhelen doesn’t hold a grudge for five years,” she mutters.

“Six,” Leliana says, then frowns. “What, really? Didn’t he kill your older brother and frame you for it?” Nadezdha winces.

“Well, yes, but Bhelen’s not really a plotter. Father only named Trian heir about a year ago, before that it technically could have been any of us. Not that that stopped Trian from lording over us ever.” She frowns, and glances at Marjolaine to make sure the woman isn’t going to do something intelligent, like attack them while they might be distracted. Morrigan huffs an impatient sigh in the background. Marjolaine does not look any more intelligent than when they first burst in, Nadezdha supposes that not everyone is on the level of the Assembly. And she’d heard so much about this Orlesian ‘Game’ too. She looks back to Leliana, “six years, really?”

“I did not want to join the Chantry at first, I tried many other things, until I realized I was just looking elsewhere for what I had already found in the Chantry because I did not believe I could be welcomed in His arms,” Leliana says, and both Marjolaine and Morrigan snort at the same time, though Alistair takes the arrow for Leliana by shoving an armored elbow into Morrigan’s ribs. Nadezdha tries to ignore them, she’s pretty sure Morrigan won’t kill Alistair by now. “Wouldn’t he have had to plot against you though? This behavior does not come out of nowhere, Nadi.”

She waves a hand. “Oh, sure, he always had lots of plans, but none of them ever really factored in reality. If he had a plan, it’s because someone gave it to him. Maybe Vartag or, no, there was that sharp, little noble-hunter he was enamored with, what was her name…”

“Are you _really_ going to talk about this _now_?” Morrigan says, haughty as she ever is, and this is why Nadezdha normally lets her stay at camp. “Shouldn’t we just kill this woman and be done with it?”

“Now, I do not think--” Marjolaine starts, smiling as wide as a deepstalker and twice as deadly.

Alistair bumbles over her, cutting her off, “Morrigan, you can’t just go around killing people because you’re _bored_.”

Marjolaine frowns and opens her mouth, only for Morrigan to immediately and loudly spit back, “and why not? Is that not what we planned to do here from the start?”

Leliana sighs loudly, dramatically, and Marjolaine’s pretty face is a picture of fury. “When we kill, we should do it for a _reason_ , Morrigan,” Leliana says, patiently, but Nadezdha can see her smirk.

“I am bored, and I must return to researching my mother’s grimoire. Is that not reason enough?”

“Reason enough for _you_ , maybe,” Alistair says, his armor clanking as he folds his arms over his chest, “but Leliana is a better person than you.”

“I will not--” Marjolaine’s voice is tight with anger.

“Morrigan is a good person, deep down, Alistair! You must simply give her a chance to prove it to you,” Leliana says, practically stuffing her hand in her mouth to hide her smirk, voice vibrating with giggles. She’s so beautiful like that, happy and carefree, and Nadezdha is glad to see it again, Leliana has been withdrawn and solemn since that ambush.

“Do not ignore me!” Marjolaine yells, hands curled into a fist.

“You never could stand not being the center of attention, Marjolaine.” Leliana tsks, smile falling away. “But this only happened because you could not stand to see me live a life without you.”

“You were clearly planning something! I did not wish to simply wait around for you to kill me, why else would you leave your collection of hovels?”

“Uh, lady, you know that Lothering was overrun by Darkspawn, right?” Alistair sounds even more confused than he normally does, this is why blood isn’t everything, _Bhelen_ \--Stone she is not looking forward to trying to enlist the help of her people, Nadezdha is going to put _that_ off for as long as possible--but he does have a point that Marjolaine tries to wave away with a hand. “ _Darkspawn_ ,” he drawls, and Nadezdha snorts. “There’s a Blight going on, in case you couldn’t tell.”

“Nonsense! My Leliana would never involve herself in something like that,” Marjolaine pouts at Leliana and Nadezdha tries to stop from wanting to rip the woman’s face off. They don’t have Provings up here in this backwards place, and even if they did, Marjolaine is more the ‘knife in the back, poison in the lichen soup’ type.

“I would think that a Blight would involve most people whether they’d like it or not,” Alistair says, the poor, dear, idealistic idiot. Orzammar has always had a Blight, since the very beginning, and the humans ignore it. Marjolaine isn’t any smarter than the average human, despite her airs, and seemingly even more impervious to good sense than a Deshyr is to change.

“Look, Leli, I get that you want to understand why she did all this to you,” Nadezdha says, choosing her words carefully. “But I don’t think she even knows. And I don’t think she can stop, either. Maybe it’s just better to end it here? Once and for all?”

Leliana finally looks away from Marjolaine--who still has not gained an iota of sense, even though they are actively plotting her death right in front of her, does she think letting them strike first will make a bit of difference--and Nadezdha tries to put all her love and support for a difficult but necessary decision behind her eyes, there for Leliana to see.

It takes a long moment, but Leliana slowly nods.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I was replaying Leliana's Song--which is a great dlc, honestly, she's so much fun--and some of the ambient dialogue made me realize that Leliana and Marjolaine parted ways before Maric even disappeared which was something like five to six years before the events of DAO. This _blew my mind_. Like, how long did Marjolaine just stew in her own paranoia? Wild.
> 
> If you'd like, come visit me on [tumblr](https://sachinighte.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
